Got the FD out the other day. Drove for maybe 100 miles... took it easy. Heading home & my temp gauge shot through the roof all of a sudden. I pulled into a parking lot & white (very thin) smoke started to come from the hood. Filled the coolant up (after letting it cool off) & drove to buddy's house (very close to where I was). It took a lot of water to fill up the coolant, so I thought I had a hose break.

Towed it to my house, jacked it up, filled the coolant with water, started the car, & no drips... as fast as my coolant ran out, I assumed I would at least see some drips hitting my driveway. Car got up to temp & the radiator started smoking.

I havn't pulled the plastic shield off the bottom of the car yet (will do that tomorrow). But it looks like I may have a hole in my radiator? But the A/C coil has no hole... & I have the plastic shield on the bottom... so how could this be?

Any other ideas as to what it may be? Do radiators just fail over time? I thought you had to break one open to make it fail...

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I have had them have tiny cracks not visible by the idea in the radiator and do exactly as you described. It doesnt loose coolant very fast, and honestly had probably been slowy leaking over the whole 100 miles you drove the car, but while you were moving you wouldnt see the small amount of smoke. It eventually lost a lot of coolant and then the factory coolant guage finally moved once the coolant got so low that the temps went up.

 

Do you still have the stock plastic/aluminum radiator? If so than that is probably the culprit.

 

Good lord I should have proof read my first post. Keep in mind these cars are now 15 yrs old and it isnt shocking for stuff like this to fail. To clarify what I was saying, I have had many of the stock radiators just start leaking from the center of the radiator without any evidence or damage by debris or contact with anything. These delicate cars are just getting older and more delicate by the day.

 

That's what I figured... the problem is a 15 year old radiator...

So to make sure I need a new rad... a buddy was telling me to put some die that would react to a black light in the coolant (the die is made especially for the this purpose). This way I would see a lot of coolant leaks in the radiator.

I just don't have $500 for a new radiator, so I want to be sure (as sure as possible) that I need a new radiator before I buy one. (No "you should have a couple thousand $ sitting around for this exact case" lessons please )

& what is a good radiator for the money? I'm basically running stock... but may be doing some bigger upgrades in the future.

 

You can find good used aluminum one for around $300.00 SHipped. I think Japan2la is selling an aluminum radiator with fans for $300.00 which is a great deal as the fans are probably worth 75.00.

 

most go with the Koyo radiator or the upgraded N-Flo koyo. You can get them for around 350/400 respective.

 

go with either the Koyo or the Fluidyne, both great products.

the koyo takes a little work to fit right